Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Beyond Time and Space
by Sophia Angelia
Summary: An epic adventure about restoring god in a godless world and bringing faith to an explorer who has lost most of her guild to a mysterious disease, all the while finding the root of this disease and the root of this transformation! Rated T for cussing and to be safe. Rating may change in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

He opens his eyes. He's laying on the forest floor. There's a cool breeze blowing, in the distance he smells an open meadow. It's around noon. He pushes himself to his paws, wondering distantly when he got paws and how he came to be some small. He looks around for any nearby Pokémon to talk to. There's only one... a curious looking Absol. Because he's laying down it looks like she's looming over him. "Hey are you okay? Did you faint here or something?" she asks.

He blinks up at her. Even standing, she's still taller than him. "Um... I can't remember? Who are you?"

"Wow, that must have been a really tough attack," she blinks. "I haven't seen you around before, but I'm Abby, Abby the Absol. I hear there's been a lot more attacks here recently so perhaps you should come with me. You can rest up some more at my shack. It's nothing much but I like it."

"Oh, thanks!" he scampers up next to her as they head out. "My name's Arceus, by the way."

Abby laughs. "That can't be true. That's the worst joke I've heard all week. You're just a Cyndaquil."

"Wh-what? I thought you were just really tall!" Arceus glances around for a pool of water - he dashes over to one and looks at his reflection. "No... this can't be happening! How did I become a Cyndaquil? That's impossible!" he steps away. "I... I can't even turn myself back..." Arceus concentrates, but no dice. "I swear to me I'm Arceus! Please do call me so."

"Um, you're kind of weird but it'd be considered blasphemy by all the towns people. They're evolutionists, I hope you know. Some don't even believe in Arceus so you ought to stop with that or you'll get beat up worse than you already were. Perhaps that's why you got pummeled so bad. Anyway, I'm going to call you Arcy okay?"

"Okay..." he was having a mental breakdown, when his stomach rumbles. "Oh! Perhaps we should eat something?"

Abby goes to her side pouch and pulls out an oran berry. "Every good explorer always has these on hand all the time"

Arcy takes a bite out of the berry. "Oh, so you're an explorer?"

"Of course, got my badge right here. Actually I recently lost a large portion of my team and have been looking for new members avidly. Would you like to join?"

"In that case, yeah! I would like to join! Maybe along the way we can find out why I turned into a Cyndaquil!"

"You're a little weird, but if you're joining, then you're a keeper."

"Hey, thanks! ... Wait... Hey!"

"What? It's hard to come around help and even harder to come around good help these days, and greedy help is everywhere masquerading as good help so you can't trust anyone that doesn't sound a little insane."

"Well... then I guess that's a complement?" Arcy was so confused now. "Who else is on the team, anyway?"

"Um, me, a few other choice individuals. You'll meet them. I'm currently Guild Master because the last three died... We've got a total of ten members including you. Three are off on a mission."

"And they all live in a shed?"

"Naw, the shed is just closer, and we meet there. You look like shit though so I figured you'd want to stop there and take a proper rest. If you think you could make it to the guild we could go to the guild."

"Yeah, I could make it!" He puffs up the flames. "I don't feel all that terrible.

"That's good, a spunky kid."

"...If I may ask, why did the guild die?"

Abby goes silent at the question. "Well. It's a long story but we've got a long walk. So basically I was a new recruit when it first started. Fresh off the line, ya' know? I started as an apprentice and had to give next to all my money to the guild and occasionally that sucked but I loved it. I'd wake up go on a mission and then go to bed dead tired just to wake up and help someone else the next day. After about two moons that all changed though. First it was the guild master who got sick, and this sickness eats away at you. First it goes for your throat making it sore but very soon you can't talk at all, and it spreads from there. Eventually we had to kill him. It was too sad to watch him writhe in agony like that but for some reason it's a very selective disease. It seems to not even be a disease but some people were theorizing it was a curse.

"Long story short, everyone from ten moons before I arrived and younger was safe. It took two long years though to see everyone die. At first we thought people could pull through it but eventually... We learned that it was impossible and painful... My first mentor was the last person we had to kill. All the others killed themselves. But as a guild we need to stay because without a guild the town would fall apart. With so few people though it appears we're being overwhelmed with missions, and they're more dangerous than we should be handling. It's kind of painful to think about. I should probably say more but just…" Abby whimpers slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry... " Arcy pats her side sympathetically. "I didn't know..."

"It's okay, but you need to know that there are some dangerous things going on recently." Abby stands up straight. "I'm the new Guild Master because I've proved myself over the past couple years."

"I'll keep it in mind... By the way, what was his name?"

"His name? Um... Abby pauses for a bit to think. "His name was Dia, I know it's weird for a guy but he was a Scizor and claimed to have an exoskeleton as shiny as diamonds."

Arcy sighs in relief. "For a second I thought you were going to say Dialga... I'm sorry for your loss, Abby."

Abby shrugs. "He use to claim to have dreams about Dialga, but that was just before the disease affected him. Actually, I've been meaning to find someone to answer this question, but who's Dialga?"

Arcy hums to himself, reminiscing. "Dialga's my son. He's a steel-dragon type, and rules over time. I wonder how he's doing? I haven't seen a lot of him ever since he got attacked by Giratina that one time..."

"You have a son? You look like a hatchling yourself. Also a son with the ability to control time? That's funny."

"Hatchling? Ha! I'm Arceus, remember? I'm as old as the universe."

"Anyway, we're here Mr. Universe. This is the guild" It's tall and ancient looking with spires almost challenging those of the Hall of Orgin, and the entire building is covered in marble, who's dust covered face doesn't mask it's elegance or beauty. The tower like structure in the middle does look rather ominous, but the area around it just looks fancy and regal. "In the center of our guild is the local cemetery. It's almost full at the moment. It's called the Tower of Souls. We like to think that we can commune with our guild mates some times, but of course, all we can really do is keep their memory alive."

"I see... Hey! It looks kind of like my home!"

"Your home is fancy and in some disrepair if that's true. We haven't been able to take proper care of the guild since the massive loss in members."

"No, I mean the structure looks generally the same..."

"Anyways," Abby bangs on giant door. "HEY MUDDY OPEN UP THE GATE. IT'S ME." Suddenly the door opens and shoves a startled Abby back and she soon gives it way to open.

A cute little Mudkip smiles up at Abby. "ABBY YOU'RE HOME!"

The two have a short little embrace. "I brought back the item from my mission and a new friend" Abby turns to Arcy. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Oh, um, I'm Arcy! It's nice to meet you, Muddy, was it?"

"Yeah! It's short for Mudita. Abby gives everyone nicknames! Is your name really Arcy?" Abby gives him a short look.

"Um, yeah, I guess Abby doesn't think I need a nickname because my name's so short. Right, Abby?"

Abby smiles. "Yes, your name is nice as it is." Mudita is a little confused but believes it. Abby turns to Mudita. "You want to show Arcy around and get some bedroom arrangements for him?"

Mudita smiles widely "YES, YES, YES! Can I be his mentor!? He looks so small!"

Abby chortles softly before replying, "Perhaps. We'll have to see if he stays. Anyway we're in need of money and food. We'll be taking a guild large trip to Big Apple forest soon, and I need to turn in my findings for rewards. Hopefully we'll get enough money to start bringing in more members. You two should rest up after you get him something to eat and somewhere to sleep. Maybe you should show him to Alice and the others."

Mudita grabs his hand and goes running in the opposite direction, pulling Arcy along. Abby nods bye to Arcy before she goes off in the other direction.

"Hey, is it really okay if I call you Muddy? I don't have to call you Mudita?" Arcy asks

"Just call me whatever comes to mind first. Oh and Abby always forgets to mention that her actual name is Abigail but she hates when people call her that so don't call her that, k?"

"Mudkip?"

"You can call me Mudkip if that's what you want." Muddy frowns slightly. "But that's kinda like me calling you Cyndaquil. There's more than one."

"Where I come from, we always just call each other by our species names because we are the only ones of our species."

"That's weird. I mean I don't really care what you call me. I'll respond but it would be awkward if we ran into another Mudkip. I guess then would be when you'd just call me Muddy or whatever. Anyway here are the sleeping chambers" It's a huge room that could fit sixty or seventy Pokémon even if they were all rather large. "We usually all sleep here in that corner" The only corner with fresh moss and grass. "There are only 9 fresh spots, so you'll likely need to grab some moss from the center fountain." Muddy also shows Arcy to the cafeteria, which is a magnificent thing which must have been able to hold ninety Pokémon. "Sometimes other Pokémon join us for dinner but recently we can barely feed our selves. So recently it's been just us."

"Oh... Is there a famine or something? Why? Do you think it's connected to the disease?"

"No, we just don't have much money despite all of us working. And we have to go to the forest to restock our supplies. We use to go every month and just bring half the guild but now we can't afford to have the free day even every two months. It'll be nice to have even a little help carrying all the apples. Hope you're strong enough to carry your weight because Abby can be kind of strict on eating. We're probably going there tomorrow."

"I see... Yeah, I can carry my weight!" Arcy yawns. "If I could get some sleep first... Let me ask you a question real quick, though."

"Yeah of course! And the best thing is as long as we're in the forest we can eat as many apples as we want that we can't carry! Oh right, shoot what's the question?"

"Abby tells me you're all evolutionists. Is that true?"

"Of course! Arceus is just a legend that people who aren't strong enough to support themselves use. Besides there's no evidence of Arceus ever existing. I mean big bang theory etc. Maybe there was a god but he didn't create everything, and there's no such thing that will manipulate time except space, and there's no such thing that will work on space except time. And thus you have space time. It all just makes sense if you think about it. Anyways if we go to bed now maybe you could meet Alice, Biff and Jethro."

"But suppose those who manipulate time and space were twins? Would that work?"

"Hah, that's supposing anything can just manipulate space and time. The only one I can think of that makes sense is Giratina but she probably can't even travel to our dimension and it only works because of infinite dimension theory. I mean I suppose they exist, but probably not in our dimension, but that also is to say there are a million me's only slightly different. One of me is even flamboyant pink! Can you imagine that? A pink me? Hah, outrageous."

" Haha, that is a little outrageous... See, I'm still on the fence about this issue, and where I come from everyone is a creationist. I thought it would be nice to hear the other side for once." Arcy nodded.

"Anyway, to the fountain and back to the bedroom yeah? I need some new moss too."

Arcy yawns again. "Yeah. Thanks for the great conversation." They head to the fountain for some moss, then make a new bed near the other nine. It's not too long before he's curled up and asleep.

**A/N: This story came from a role play I had with one of my friends. It's been converted from chat form to story form, so I apologize for any inconsistencies that may arise. Please do tell me if you find any mistakes, whether it be with grammar or spelling. We role play in first person, so if there's any I's, me's or my's where they don't belong, please do tell me! Please review if you liked it; reviews make me smile!**


	2. Chapter 2

Arcy wakes up the next morning. He can't remember his dream, but he had a feeling that someone was trying to contact me... like a prayer. it was nearby, in town perhaps. but he couldn't hear it. He gets up and stretches, meandering over to the fountain to splash his face before flinching away, surprised at how the water drops stung his back. Once he gets up he can finally observe who was around him. Nearest to him was a neat bed which has been slept in but was left early in the morning. Presumably that was Abby's. The next closest must have been Muddy who also seems to have left him here. Around him, he sees a Misdeavus still fast asleep, and a Charmander and a Chikorita chatting. The Charmander seems to have a stick up its bum and the Chikorita is surprisingly jovial and jokeful.

Arcy meander over to them. "Hello! I'm the new guild member! What's your guys' names?"

The Charmander just kind of looks at you but it's the Chikorita who answers, "I'm Biff! You can call me Chikorita though. I know it's hard to remember names, because I'm so bad at them! And the guy with a stick up his ass is Jethro. You do have to call Jethro, because he is too good to be called Charmander."

Jethro shoots an angry look at Biff. "I told you I wasn't always a Charmander. This is stupid. You're stupid. I'm hungry." He gets up and leaves to grab some food.

Biff whispers, "He's not angry at you, he's angry at me because we've been talking about his crazy past. Apparently his was Human, riot right? I don't believe him but I'm going to help him figure out his past if that's what he wants. He's too interesting to dismiss. Anyway that heavy sleeper right there is Alice. She use to be an Umbreon but died in the great curse. No one knows why she's the only one that came back as a ghost but we're all grateful she's here. She's been pretty depressed recently though. It's been a good thing for Abigail though. They're close friends."

"Wait, Jethro used to be a human? So I'm not the only one who's changed!"

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, we should wake Alice up and get some food. Maybe you'll meet Noot and Big Bird soon. I think they already left for the forest. They tend to move fast and like to make as many trips in the same day as they can. It's thanks to them that we can have enough food so often but it's also kind of sad because of their habits we don't actually get to hang out often. I don't think Terence or Stella will be back soon. Let's get breakfast and get going."

The apples at the breakfast table aren't fresh at all. They're barely still good, and some are bruised however everyone eats it with no qualms and most of them look happy to have it. The only disapointed member at breakfast is Abby. Arcy's apple is particularly bad. He scrunches his nose and pushes the apple away. _If we can eat in the forest then there's no point eating this right now_, he figures. Arcy make a point to take the seeds out and save them for later, though. If he can start an apple orchard nearby then food will be easier to get.

Mudita looks at Arcy. "You're not going to eat your apple?"

"No, why? Do you want it?"

"Actually yeah, besides we can't just throw it out." Muddy eats it with only one slightly thoughtful face but shrugs and finishes it off. "You must have been last to get here. Abby always makes it a point to eat the worst apple and give the best to those that wake up early."

"This is going to sound ridicules, but I'm not used to eating... but I was thinking on planting a tree in the guild, and growing our own apples." Arcy reveals the seeds.

Muddita nods, "If you can find space to do that I'm sure Abby would be happy. No one's had time to try and the trees need tending every day or else they don't grow. Needless to say the only trees that are always taken care of are the few oran trees we have that Abby tends to, but she's got a black hoof if you know what I mean. I think Noot tried that once and then completely forgot about it and we found a bunch of dead saplings a week later when we reminded him. If you can do it it'd be nice. Also, you don't look like you're not use to eating. You look pretty plump actually.

"Anyway, Abby's leaving, so let's follow. Here I got you a sack from the supply room and a badge. You probably don't qualify for this rank but it allows you to carry more and although it's slightly illegal to do that, we need food, and what Abby doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Right, thanks!" Arcy takes the sack and follows. It's not too far to go to Apple Woods. It's also not too terrible. It's weird to see a place so not devastated.

Abby smiles to the six who came. "Let the feast begin, and remember carry as much good as you can. Also remember that some of the less ripe apples will be good because they ripen. Last couple of days the apples have been a little ripe so just keep that in your head. Also please travel in groups starting from here on. Pick your partners."

Arcy waves to Muddy and Biff. "Hey! Could I be in a group with you?"

Biff bounds over from where he was with Jethro. "Of course!"

Muddy smiles next to Arcy. "Let's get as many apples as possible!"

Alice, Abby, and Jethro make their own group with Abby heading it. Alice makes a playful remark, "We'll totally get more apples than you! We even got Jethro!"

Jethro mutters, a little annoyed to have gotten ditched by Biff, "Hope that Cyndaquil doesn't weigh you down."

"So what? We're going to work harder and pick the best and biggest apples!" Arcy playfully calls back as Muddy leads the way in.

Biff even remarks, "Hah! Jethro one on one me, mate! I'll get more than you can even think of!" At this the two groups go their separate ways. Muddy is eagerly picking all the apples that she can find. It starts to seem a little wasteful after a while because some of the apples she picks are actually quite ripe and appear that they must be eaten now or never. Biff skillfully cuts down only the best looking apples and even throws a weird look at Muddy as though what she's doing isn't particularly normal for her.

"Muddy, wait... Look at the apples you're getting. We can't keep the ones you're picking up, they won't last. We should aim for the ones in the trees that don't look all that ripe and eat the ripe ones now," Arcy remarks.

Muddy looks at him, confused for a moment. "OH RIGHT these aren't particularly for eating. The riper the apple the more likely the seeds take hold and trees grow. These apples were going to make the forest even more over crowded if we left them anyway. Usually I go with Jethro and have him burn some of the apples but since you're making an orchard and you could probably burn them too, might as well get them all." she looks at Biff. "I'm sorry we didn't want to mention it to you because we know how much you hate burning things especially when they could become trees for food, but they'd just hurt the other trees if they took root here. Anyway what do you say about deseeding these for me while I go and grab some actual good apples?"

"That sounds like a plan! And we don't have to burn all of them; some can be eaten." Arcy bites into a ripe one, making it easier to deseed.

Biff places a large amount of apples a couple feet away from all the ripe ones. "I think I've maxed my carrying capacity with these. I'll grab them when we're leaving but I'll come and grab some better ones to eat, okay Muddy?"

Muddy nods, "Do you mind staying there while we go?"

"No, I can say here. I don't mind. Take as much time as you need!" Arcy nods with a smile. He finishes one apple, storing the seeds in a side pouch and picking up another, beginning to eat.

"Thanks, we'll bring back some for you to carry back to camp too" Muddy replies, and both head off deeper into the forest leaving Arcy alone to do his job. Thus far in the forest they haven't seen any hostile Pokémon but, Arcy figures he should be on the alert. After the third apple, Arcy's feeling pretty full. He then decides to practice his moves while Biff is away; picking the seeds out and tossing the apple into the air to see if he can hit it with a Flamethrower. He's had the move before and know how to use it, but it's aiming with this newly proportioned body he has to practice.

After about five burnt apples, he hears a rustling to his right and jumps to his feet. "Who's there?"

A creepy cackle explodes from all around him. "So you're the new fresh meat. I hope you know these woods aren't safe for you or your friends."

"Show yourself! I'm not scared!" Arcy looks around for the source. It's not himself he's concerned about; it's the apples. If they get stolen or damaged, all their work will be for nothing.

"HAH I've no need of food," a Missingno. ghost flutters out. "Just you're not safe here or anywhere. Three moons. You've got three moons. Oh you poor souls. I hope you're smart like the later ones afflicted."

"Three moons? For what?" Arcy gasps suddenly. "You're the one setting the curse?"

"Hah, you're so misguided for a god. It's a good thing you're in good company or you'd never guess what you have to do. Aren't you wondering who controls the world if you're not running it? Wondering why this group has so many funny names?"

"Um... No? Now that you mention it, who and why?"

"Even a human and a ghost among you? The world's turning upside down. I don't know much and can tell you even less. You're lucky that as an old soul I feel a bit of gratitude for you. Beware the shadows. Corruption is coming, Arceus."

"Corruption... Who's causing it? A dark type?"

"Hah, beware the shadows, not the dark. The dark is after all the only thing older than you."

"A Shadow... type?"

"Yes, it's the shadows you created that are finally catching up with you."

"What shadows?"

The Missingno. cackles again. "You'll figure that out on your own, but maybe you should pay more attention to your friends." A shriek comes from the direction of where Biff and Muddy went.

"Muddy? Biff?!" Arcy takes off in their direction, his back blazing.

**A/N: And with that, we end chapter two! Thank you everyone who favorited and followed so far! And a huge thank you to ****Charlesguy**** for your review! What could Missingno. mean? What happened to Biff and Muddy? More to come soon!**


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